Caught In The Middle
by WriteLikeThis
Summary: The Cullens are constantly laughing, pranking and betting. Bella, a human, is always there with them. Edward tries to protect her from their evil ways but sometimes even he can't resist pranking her... Bella is caught in the middle of all of it. Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer created Twilight Saga and all the characters. I use her characters for my own story.
1. First Pranks

1. First Pranks

BELLA POV

"Dad, I'm staying at Edward's house this weekend." I shouted to Charlie as I reached the bottom of the stairs. The TV was blaring at him. He quickly turned it off and shot up, eyeing my backpack that was flung over my shoulder. He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"You're not spending the whole weekend with Edward." He told me shortly.

"No. I'm not. The boys are going out hiking so us girls are spending the weekend together." How long was I going to have to keep lying to him? Why was he so against me spending a lot of time with my fiancé? He knew how in love I was with him. I hated having to lie but what else was I supposed to do? The Cullens were my family and my friends. Edward, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Carlisle, Esme... I loved my Dad but I belonged with them. I belonged with Edward.

"Oh, that's a great idea." His face lightened up and so did I. At least he didn't totally hate the Cullens. Aside from Edward, he had met Alice, who he really liked, and Carlisle, who he respected, which made him trust the rest of the family. He was happy with me staying with them and he was glad that I had friends. It was just Edward. Edward was the only one he had the problem with, but Edward was the one I loved more than anyone.

"See ya, Dad." I nodded at him before going outside. My eyes were instantly drawn to the god who was, still unbelievably, waiting for _me_ leaning against his volvo. I wanted to run up to him and fling my arms around him and stand still staring at him in awe at the same time. The combination of the two urges left me stumbling my way across the path to his signature crooked smile. I stood a few feet away from him before stopping as a thought occurred to me. Charlie could have seen Edward. I slowly swivelled around on the spot and to my relief Charlie was no where in sight. Edward laughed and reached out for my hands. I let him take them willingly.

"Bella, don't worry. He's too in to the game." He reassured me and I grinned as he leant down and kissed me softly. I groaned happily as I melted in to the kiss.

"Come on, Bella." He mumbled before opening the car door for me. "I need to talk to you." He spoke seriously with a small smile on his lips that left me confused for a moment.

"It's just, before we get to my house, I need to warn you about my family. We have this thing, it happens a lot in the summer, where we prank each other. It gets very extreme." He explained.

"Like how?" I smiled curiously. It sounded like fun.

"Let's just say, it's a good thing we have a lot of money." He smiled back and I giggled. "Seriously, though, it's up to you whether you get involved. Either way, I will make sure no one harms you." He tensed as he said it which made me feel warm inside. I knew how much he cared for me.

"Are you getting involved?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Of course." He grinned quickly. "Usually, we team up. A lot of the time we are in couples or girls vs. boys. But it changes a lot." He told me. I liked the sound of it.

"Can I be on your team?" I asked desperately. I was nervous about it. I knew that I would be safe with Edward and I wasn't sure what the others would be like. How bad it would be...

"Yes." He grinned and I relaxed.

With Edward's driving, we had arrived at his house already. In a second he was opening the door for me. I slid out of the car and took his hand as we entered his beautiful house.

We opened the door and before I knew what was happening I was pushed on to the bottom of the stairs while I watched in fear as Edward and Emmett collided with each other. In seconds Emmett was pinned down on the floor by Edward.

"Emmett! Give her a chance! You could have hurt her." Edward moaned disapprovingly as he yanked Emmett up from the floor.

"Edward, lighten up! I'm just trying to make her more at home. I would never hurt her; just scare her!" He chuckled.

"Hey Emmett." I grinned at him just before Edward rushingly grasped my hand and lead me up to his room.

"Hello, Bella." He shouted and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"What was that about?" I wandered in confusion as I dropped my bag on to the bed that Edward had gotten for me long ago. He rolled his eyes and for a moment I frowned before I realised he did it because of Emmett and not me.

"Emmett was going to tackle you." He shook his head and I laughed once. Typical Emmett. "He knows you are going to be here a lot so he wants to scare you. He finds you very funny. He also likes to get under my skin.." He informed me. My body dropped on to the edge of my bed.

"It's a good thing your skin is so hard to get under." I joked before turning serious. "I'm a little afraid _now. _I hate surprises." I bit my lip anxiously as I thought through all the horrible things that Emmett could have done to me, or the even more horrible things he could have done to Edward. Edward would protect me from anything really bad, I had the human pass, but what about Edward? Who was going to protect him? At that moment I mentally promised him and myself that I would do everything I could to protect him and keep him safe. It sounded ridiculous since it was his family I would be protecting him against but vampires had a tendency to not be completely trustworthy. They wouldn't hurt him but they would put him in irritating, upsetting and worrying situations. The worst part was, I knew that what ever happened, it would be a whole lot worse than what ever I was thinking of. Edward placed a finger under my chin and tilted my head up to look at him.

"Let's go downstairs." He suggested and pulled me in to his chest. I nestled in my Edward.

"ARRGGHH! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY HAIR? IT'S GREEN. MY HAIR IS GREEN." My head snapped up at the sound of Alice screeching from her bedroom. Edward started shaking with laughter while I anxiously stepped towards the door. I looked behind me and I really thought he was going to collapse on to the floor.

"Edward?" I spoke timidly but couldn't stop his laughter from making me smirk.

"Come on... let's go downstairs." He chuckled before swinging me in to his arms and carrying me in to the living room in a flash.

"Edward." I moaned as I regained my balance.

"I'll warn you before I do it next time." He wore his heart-stopping smile. I loved the way that he knew why I complained and what I was complaining about, without having to ask.

Everyone was there except for Esme and Carlisle. Edward and I placed ourselves on the couch. I offered a shy smile to everyone before my eyes landed on Alice's bright green hair. I stared in disbelief. Jasper had his arms around her waist and was trying to comfort her. Her angry expression was a little frightening to me but I would have been angry too if that had happened to my hair.

"Who. Did. This." Alice was fuming. I cowered back in to Edward's chest - were all of them going to react like this to the pranks? Emmett and Edward erupted in to laughter that shook the house and all of our eyes flew to them.

"You two." Alice narrowed her eyes and tensed her fists.

"Edward?" I gasped in shock. I pulled away from his chest to look him in the eyes. Edward did it? They laughed even harder which irritated me a little. I didn't know whether to be on Edward's side or Alice's side. Suddenly, Alice grabbed my arm and I was being taken out of the room. At first she was holding me too roughly but after a moment she relaxed.

"Come on, Bella. You don't need him." I heard an evil smile in her voice. I glanced at Edward over my shoulder who actually looked a little afraid. It could have been at Alice's thoughts, or just at Alice... What was Alice going to have me do? I was afraid but I had to admit to myself, I was a little excited.

"Rose." Alice stopped in the hallway and let go of my hand. I hesitated, over whether to run back to Edward or not, before staying still. Rosalie appeared at my side matching Alice's sly smile.

"Girl's vs. Boys." She announced. So much for being on Edward's team. One of them picked me up in to their stone arms and I wished that they would promise to warn me like Edward did.

"Okay. The boys have gone out in to the forest so we can talk normally." Rosalie said as we entered Alice's room. Alice lay on her bed, Rose leaned against the door and I sat on a chair.

"Now, what should we do?" Alice wandered. I was worried, I didn't want to do anything to Edward.

"Alice, Rosalie, I don't-" I began protesting.

"Bella, I promise you. At some point, probably more than once, Edward will prank you or at least laugh at a prank that's been done to you." Rosalie informed me and Alice nodded firmly.

"I love Jas as much as you love Edward. But this is war." She spoke with determination. I sighed, I could tell it was something that they knew. But I couldn't imagine him doing that, it would be a new side of him for sure. I hoped that all of the pranks were harmless.

"Let's think..." Alice spoke and the room fell in silence.

"Oh!" Rosalie broke the silence and I almost fell off of my chair in shock. "The xbox! Emmett loves that thing and they fight about it a lot." She suggested. Alice and I smiled - it sounded like a good idea.

I was surprised at the way Rosalie was acting - she wasn't showing her usual icy attitude towards me. Did she like me now? It was difficult to know but I hoped that she did. Maybe she would get to know me better and then we would get along. That would have made everything better than it already was.

"What are we going to do to it?" Alice asked to no one in particular.

"Umm, we could spray paint it pink?" I offered the first thing that came in to my head.

"Yes!" Alice and Rosalie agreed at the same time and after a second I was dizzily standing up in the garage. I really didn't like it when vampires just took me somewhere.

"Okay, Rose. Make sure they don't come anywhere near the xbox within the next ten minutes." Alice instructed her as she filed through a couple of boxes.

"Got it." She instantly flitted away.

"Choose a color Bella." She had that evil smile back and I realised how good it was that I was on her team and not against her. I flicked through the many shades of colours that the Cullen's kept - apparently Rosalie repainted their cars a lot. I chose hot pink and Alice chose a bright shade of purple before she lead me to a room that had the games console in. It was practically another living room.

"Okay, Bella. Go crazy!" She grinned and started spraying the screen. It _was_ crazy. It would have been way too extreme if it were a human prank. But they had so much money, they could practically do whatever they wanted.

I began spraying the wall. I did many little hearts, some big and some small. Then I wrote the classic: 'We love Alice, Rosalie and Bella' in huge letters across the wall that the xbox was against.

"Great job Bella! Do you want to swap colors?" She laughed and I nodded. We were really getting in to it. Alice had sprayed the screen and the controllers bright purple. There were three seats there - one for each of them - that Alice named 'Bella, Alice and Rose'. I sprayed arrows through the hearts that I drew. We stood back and admired our work.

"Hey Alice." I observed the walls that hadn't been touched. They were basically blank canvases. "Let's do these walls too." We giggled and then covered the walls in pink and purple. Alice's vampire speed meant that we were done in no time. We walked out of the room and on the door Alice wrote 'A shrine to our three angels'. We high-fived each other. Our work was complete.

I jumped when I saw Rosalie in front of me. She cracked in to a smile at me that grew bigger when she saw what was on the door.

"So?" Alice said to her. Rosalie's expression faded.

"They told me to go away." She replied moodily and folded her arms across her chest.

"Well, help me wash the dye out of my hair and then we can go and find them... I want them to see what we've done." Alice giggled excitedly.

"You go. I'll stay here." I smiled. I couldn't run fast like those two - who knew how far away the guys were - and I didn't want to be picked up again.

"Edward won't be happy, Bella." Alice warned me. It was true, Edward would be annoyed that I was left on my own. But it wasn't like I couldn't take care of myself.

"He left me with you so I should be fine." I teased and they both laughed before disappearing. I went up to Edward's room. It was nice to walk on my own two feet again.

* * *

EDWARD POV

I stopped laughing when my arms became empty. Alice was dragging away Bella who looked back at me helplessly.

_Boys vs Girls, Edward. There's no getting her back now... _Alice thought. Soon after Rosalie left Emmett's side to join them. I immediately felt guilty, I had told Bella that we would stay together. What was Alice going to do with her? What was Bella going to do?_  
_

"Girl vs Boys." Rosalie announced which made Emmett grin. He stood up and headed for the door.

"Edward, come on. Stop worrying, Bella's fine." He told me impatiently. Jasper sent me a wave of calm which made me feel better. But even so, I hated to be apart from her...

We ran until we were a few miles from the house, no one would hear us.

"Okay, what should we do to the girls?" Jasper questioned thoughtfully. We all knew that he was good at this; he planned and strategised perfectly because of his background. I was glad that we were on the same team. But I was worried about Bella, honestly I didn't want her caught up with this. Particularly since Emmett would pick on her.

"Edward, there is no need to feel guilty or worried. When Bella found out that you pulled that prank on Alice, she was really shocked... And a little annoyed. I think she will really get in to this. She _is_ with Rosalie and Alice." Jasper informed me. I thought this through. He was right, Alice and Rosalie were ready to do anything. I could imagine Bella becoming more and more confident with it. But I couldn't do anything to her. She was a fragile and vulnerable human. I wanted to be on her team so that I could defend her and look out for her. Also, it would be fun to prank the others with her.

"He's right, Edward. Bella is probably having a great time with them." Emmett assured me. I tried to forget about her and focussed on something that we could have done to them.

"We could... ambush them." I suggested. Their faces lit up and we all grinned.

"With mud." Emmett added. We all laughed, like me, they were picturing the girls screaming as we threw mud all over them. That was our kind of prank.

_Edward, where are you guys? You better not prank me, I just want to see Emmett. _I froze. It was Rosalie.

"Guys, Rosalie has left the house. She is trying to find us, I can hear her thoughts." I told them at vampire speed. Emmett stepped towards our house.

"Rose, go away! We need to plan!" He shouted irritatedly to her.

"Emmett!" She whined._ I just want to see you. _She thought.

"Easy Emmett." I warned him.

"Yeah, she's not happy..." Jasper muttered. Emmett looked at us anxiously.

"Baby, just come back in five minutes. Please?" He spoke softly to her.

"Okay." She replied sadly before running off. _Alice and Bella will want to go back with me, Bella obviously wants to see Edward... _That thought from Rosalie stabbed me with guilt. So Bella _did_ want me with her. It wasn't like I didn't want to be with her, but knowing that she wanted to be with me made it one-hundred times harder. I waited until I could no longer hear Rosalie's thoughts before we resumed our conversation.

"I think all three of them will come back. So we can prank them then." I told them quickly. We all grinned before setting to work.

We found the perfect place to attack them from - two trees opposite each other surrounded by mud. I doubted that Alice would see it coming in time, we would decide to attack less than a second before we did it. We waited for them.

It wasn't long until we heard them approaching. I assumed that one of them was carrying Bella since we were a few miles away. Emmett and I locked eyes with Jasper who mouthed "one, two, three..." to us before we jumped out from the trees and pelted our victims. Alice and Rosalie screamed and we all boomed with laughter. Bella was no where to be seen. Jasper and Emmett pinned their mates to the ground and rolled around in the mud. They were covered from head to toe.

"Where's Bella?" I asked in alarm. I mentally kicked myself - I should have known, I didn't smell her or hear her heart beat.

"She's... At... The house." Alice replied between giggles as Jasper tickled her. I instantly ran back to the house. Why on earth did they leave her alone? That wasn't fair. The more I thought about it, the more angry I got. I pictured Bella sat alone in our large empty house. She could have been upset when I got back. I could have killed those two. I shouldn't have left her.


	2. Pay-back

2. Pay-back

BELLA POV

I drummed my fingers on the kitchen counter as I waited for the oven timer to go off. I was starving so I had found a pizza. I was hoping to finish eating it by the time they got back because normally they would watch me eat and it was really embarrassing.

My mind wandered and I turned so that my back was against the edge of the counter. I stared down at my arms and legs and imagined myself as a vampire. I traced my hand over my skin and tried to imagine it being hard and smooth. I closed my eyes and imagined it. The strength I would feel in my muscles, the sounds I would be hearing of the river near the house and the tingle in my throat rather than my aching stomach. I wanted it all. I wanted Edward, for always, more than anything.

"Bella?" My eyes sprang open and I jumped away from the counter as I felt Edward's cool hands wrap around my waist. He didn't want me to be a vampire. He didn't want me to be with him forever. Involuntary tears pricked my eyes and in embarrassment I pushed Edward away - more like he got the hint and let go of me - and ran to the bathroom. I frantically washed my face and dried it. I ran my fingers through my hair before putting my weight on the sink and staring at my face. I looked as good as I was going to get myself to. I listened to my breathing and closed my eyes as I calmed myself. I was with Edward. He loved me. I had to live in the now.

When I opened my eyes I turned around and headed back in to the kitchen. My heart fell to the ground when I saw Edward frozen in the doorway, staring endlessly in my direction. To any other human he was a realistic statue but to me he was my clearly troubled and pensive love.

"Bella." He spoke like he was in agony. "What's wrong?" He urged.

"Nothing, it was nothing. Just a thought. I'm okay." I replied soothingly. His face didn't change when I was near and I wished that I knew what he was thinking. I placed my hands on his chest and pushed my lips on to his. To my relief, he kissed me back. Softly at first but then he took me by surprise as he grabbed my waist and deepened the kiss. We were as close as possible. It ended and I nestled in to his chest as he held me tightly.

"Are you alright?" He checked. I could hear the concern in his voice and I felt annoyed with myself again.

"Never better." I murmured. I held on to him with all my strength, he was my home. My safe place. "Are you okay, Edward?" I asked.

"I was worried about you." He admitted, gazing down at me. I smiled and planted a kiss on his cheek before walking past him and grabbing my pizza from the oven. I started cutting it up. Edward stepped forward to help but I blocked his way and took his hand.

"Edward... You don't need to worry about me. Honestly, I'm fine. I'm more than fine, especially when you're with me." I tried to reassure him before turning back to my food. I took the plate and sat down. Edward flung his arm around me and tugged me closer. I started nibbling before realising how hungry I was. I tried not to wolf it down as I hungrily polished it off. I realised that I had eaten an entire pizza and felt disgusted with myself. Edward quickly took the plate from me and washed it. He caught me smiling adoringly at him.

"What?" He asked as he smirked and raised an eyebrow. My face reddened slightly.

"I love you so much." I grinned before making my way in to the living room. I walked a few steps before I was swept off of the ground and placed on the couch. I found my body almost on top of Edward's. With my eyes I devoured his breath-taking face as we lay there.

"I hate it when you do that." I complained and stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed and kissed the top of head for a long moment.

"I love you, my Bella." He mumbled. My heart sped up, my cheeks flared. I pulled myself along so that my head was almost level with his, yearning for closeness. He laughed - he knew what he could do to me. Especially when he said what he had just said. My right hand travelled to his shoulders and I traced lines all over him teasingly. He shuddered and grabbed my hand.

"Bella." He moaned. I smiled victoriously - I had power over him too. We kissed once before standing up at a speed too inhuman for my body. I got a head rush and Edward had to catch me when I almost toppled over.

"They're coming back Bella." His delicate breath passed over my ear and he nibbled my lobe for a moment making me quietly moan. The sensation was over too soon and he took my hand. A second later the four of them appeared and I clasped my hand over my mouth - all of them were covered in mud.

"What happened?" I gasped. They all had smiles on their faces but I could tell it was something that the guys had done by their smug expressions.

"They ambushed us!" Alice exclaimed, though I could tell that they had had fun. Rosalie was pulling clumps of mud from her hair in disgust. I rolled my eyes at all of them and reached for Alice's hand.

"Let's go, Alice." Everyone stared at me in shock. I was being forward and commanding - I was never like that. The truth was that I was enjoying myself and wanted the guys to find their game room. They could have all done with a wash, too. Also, it was nice that I was pulling Alice for a change, instead of the other way around.

Alice, Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper were all getting themselves cleaned up while Edward and I waited downstairs. I drank down some water before I found Edward.

"Bella... What have you done?" He was stood a few metres away from the door in to the room that Alice and I had wrecked. His eyes were fixed on Alice's writing.

"Nothing." I whispered innocently. His eyes flew to me and I had to stop myself from erupting in to nervous laughter. His eyes were wide and he seemed genuinely worried. And angry. "Alice. Rose." I raised my voice helplessly. Edward moved slowly, even for a human, towards the door. I was desperate for them to appear and luckily they did - just in time. Weirdly, I felt like I needed support.

"What's wrong Edward?" Rosalie asked suspiciously. The three of us were pressing our lips together to stop ourselves from laughing.

"Emmett. Jasper." Edward spoke lowly and clearly. I blinked bewilderedly as Emmett and Jasper joined Edward. They all stared at the door with horrified expressions. Ever so slowly, Jasper turned the metal handle and the door flew to the side. All of us moved closer. I took one look at their expressions and that did it.

They all gasped and I started giggling uncontrollably at exactly the same time as Alice and Rosalie. Edward, Emmett and Jasper were completely distraught at the sight of their room.

"What have you done?" Emmett whispered like someone had just been killed. They all observed the entire room while the three of us collapsed on to the floor in laughter. I had tears in my eyes and I was sure that, if it were possible, Alice and Rosalie would have had too. They had become completely helpless - over an xbox.

"What? Don't you like the new improvements?" Alice questioned derisively in between laughs.

"Everything is..." Jasper struggled for words that described the scene. The three of us stood up and I leant on Alice for support as I tried to steady my breathing.

"Who's idea was this?" Emmett growled fumingly and stood in the doorway with an angry Jasper while behind them Edward was still trying to accept the situation.

"It was mine." I tried to sound proud and unafraid. It was pretty much my idea although Rosalie had thought of that room. But that was okay, I wanted to take the blame. I wanted to show them that I was strong. I almost fell backwards when Jasper and Emmett simultaneously narrowed their eyes at me. I held my lips together as tightly as I could. I concentrated on Edward who was trying to let the room go. I almost felt bad for making him sad but it was just a room that they could easily turn back to normal. They had a lot of money... Suddenly his head snapped up and a growl ripped through his throat. In less than a second he was standing protectively in front of me and my eyes widened in confusion as I peered round his shoulder.

I thought he was reacting to a thought but it seemed as though they all knew what was going on. I realised that they had had a conversation too quick and low for me to hear.

* * *

EDWARD POV

"It was mine." Bella announced. I knew she was a little worried considering our reactions. But Bella definitely didn't come up with it on her own, Alice and Rosalie knew how much we loved that room. Especially Emmett, which put Bella in a really bad position...

"She's going to pay for this." Emmett decided, too low and fast for Bella to catch.

"Yeah, we need to think... What does she care about?" Jasper matched his menacing tone.

"Maybe her and Edward need some time apart." Emmett smirked. I reacted to this instantly. No way was that going to happen. I growled at them and pushed Bella behind me so that I could defend her. I reached for her hand and she held on to it as hard as she could, I felt her move closer to me.

I was momentarily distracted when I heard Carlisle and Esme's thoughts approaching. Emmett and Jasper acted on this immediately and I flew to the ground while Bella was flung over Emmett's shoulder and carried upstairs. Her chocolate eyes told me how terrified she was and it gave me the power to throw Jasper off of me. He was a better fighter, but I was faster and could read his mind.

Alice and Rosalie unhelpfully ran away while I fought against Jasper, of course I wasn't trying to hurt him, I just wanted to break free of his hold. Eventually I did and ran faster than ever to Bella.


	3. Too Much

3. Too Much

"Emmett! Put me down! EDWARD!" I screeched desperately as Emmett slowed to human speed and dropped me on to his bed. I heard what must have been Edward being restrained by the others.

"Bella?" He called out. I fought back tears. As soon as I was free I ran straight to the door, only to run in to a brick wall that took Emmett's shape. I cried out as I fell to the ground. I lay on my back completely stunned and stared at the ceiling when Emmett's mischievous face came in to view.

"What some help, Bella?" He chuckled and I glared at him, unimpressed.

"No." I replied angrily as I hoisted myself on to my feet. Once I was firmly on the ground I folded my arms across my self stubbornly and didn't move an inch.

"Bella, Bella, Bella..." He shook his head in disapproval.

"What are you doing Emmett?" I questioned hostilely. I was tired and didn't want to play his stupid games.

"I want to make a deal with you." He stated confidently. I couldn't stop the automatic response of rolling my eyes.

"Why would I want to make a deal with you?" I said bluntly, causing his smile to appear again.

"To stop bad things happening to Edward." He grinned. My breathing came to a staggered halt. Edward, my Edward... NO. I knew then that they had me. I would never ever let any harm come to him if I could help it.

"What do you want?" I murmured with a grudge. He laughed.

"Well, I don't know, what do-" He began.

"Get to the point, Emmett." I snapped impatiently. He narrowed his eyes and smirked at me, looking like a murderer from a horror movie.

"For the next two days you aren't allowed to show Edward any affection - which means you can't touch him or tell him you love him or anything. Meanwhile, you have to do all the pranks that the rest of us tell you to do. To be nice, none of the pranks will be against Edward. Otherwise they will be against anyone, even humans. And will be as extreme as we like as long as Carlisle agrees they aren't dangerous." He grinned.

"And if I don't want to?" I spoke through gritted teeth. I would have had tears in my eyes if I wasn't so angry.

"Oh, if you don't then we will wreck everything that Edward loves. His volvo, his music, his piano, his room and we will make him think something bad has happened to you." Tears played at my eyes at the thought of all of it. No, Edward would be so upset. I was fuming as tears finally rolled down my face.

"How could you do that to him? You evil vampires! Don't you love him?" I wailed. In the middle of collapsing to the floor I was swept up and put on to the bed. Emmett put his arm around me and held me tightly.

"Shhh, Bella. Shhh. Of course we love him. We would replace everything that we destroyed." He barely reassured the ache that was consuming my chest.

"Can Edward hear all of this?" I wandered quietly. I hoped that he couldn't.

"No, he's not in the house. All of them, including Carlisle and Esme, are talking." I hit him until he set me free and I stood up. He knew I wasn't going to bother trying to run away again so he let me. I breathed deeply.

"Fine." I returned to my more-angry state. "Can we at least tell Edward that I'm not allowed to show him affection?" I pushed.

"Yeah but he will probably figure that out anyway. We won't think about it when he's around but he's a smart kid." He informed me like he wasn't being horrible and unfair.

"I have one condition; Edward doesn't find out why I am doing this. Otherwise the entire thing is off." Emmett nodded in agreement. "Okay, can I go?" I pushed. It would have been better if Edward didn't know why I was doing it because if he knew then he would tell me not to worry about it. I knew how much all his things meant to him and I knew that it would crush him if he thought I had been hurt, even for a moment. Emmett laughed.

"Promise me that you agree to do what I've said." He smiled and I inched towards the door impatiently.

"I promise, Emmett." I fake smiled before going out of the room. I ran downstairs and saw Emmett already there with his smug expression. I wanted to find Edward, at least I could still see him and talk to him. Emmett picked me up and I found myself in the living room with everyone dizzily.

"Emmett!" I groaned and he chuckled as he sat next to Rosalie. I glared at all of the people that I thought were my friends/practically-brothers-and-sisters. There was an empty seat next to Edward that I was super conscious of. Reluctantly, I leant against the wall instead which caused all the betrayers to smile. I avoided Edward's gaze on me and instead my eyes landed on Carlisle and Esme.

"Hello, Bella. How are you?" Esme smiled warmly. I sighed and felt calm for the first time in a while when I realised it was Jasper. I shot him a look that said "not good enough, I thought you were better than this" before wearing a small smile.

"I'm fine." I nodded and exchanged weak smiles with the pair of them before everyone went back to their own conversations in different rooms. It was then that my eyes finally landed on Edward who was staring at me in confusion. _You're doing it for him, you're doing it for hi_m... I chanted in my head. It was just me and him in the room now. He stood up with his arms outstretched and I knew he wanted to have me close to him like I wanted him close to me. I shook my head and took a few steps back.

"I can't, Edward." I whispered, my eyes stinging with tears. His eyes took the time to darken with fury.

"Bella... What. Has. Emmett. Said. To. You?" I could tell that he was trying to hold back his anger. I was about to tell him that I loved him and that it was okay when I realised that I couldn't. Damn, they had really thought it through.

"I hate this as much as you do, Edward. But I have to do it, we can last for two days..." I mumbled and looked in to his eyes kindly. The fire in him didn't relax.

"TWO DAYS?!" He shouted. "Emmett and the rest of you get in here now before I come and _get_ you." He snarled. I was thankful that he wasn't looking at me as he said it otherwise I would have been afraid of him. They all appeared at once. Alice smiled at me but I stepped away irritatedly. For the first time ever, I wanted to be at home instead of there. Where Edward would stay talking with me and holding me through the night. I wandered how far I could have gotten before they stopped me, probably no farther than a foot.

"She agreed, Edward!" Emmett announced loudly, dragging me away from my escape plans.

"Yes but you've got to have something held against her." Edward said in a low, impatient voice. They all remained silent. He turned to me and his anger faded slightly.

"Bella, if you are doing this for me then don't bother. Forget about it, whatever they are threatening to do it can't be worse than this." He told me softly but rapidly. I looked down at the ground and waited for one of the others to say something - if Edward found out the deal was off and they were better liars than me... I hoped that Edward would find out because then everyone would drop the whole thing, although they would have probably just come up with something else anyway...

"It's not about you, Edward." Alice rolled her eyes at him. "It's something to do with Charlie." She was so convincing that for a moment I thought they had changed the terms or something. I hated the fact that, unless the whole thing was called off, Edward was still getting hurt either way. There was an awkward moment when all that could be heard was my heavy breathing so I sucked in the air and remained still. I wandered what would have happened if I had just stayed like that. Was it possible to suffocate yourself? Would I just pass out?

"Bella. Stop it." Rosalie commanded. Everyone looked at me, maybe Rosalie was the only one who was paying attention. I met Edward's eyes that were full of sorrow and worry. I couldn't take it anymore so I dramatically turned and ran up the stairs. No one seemed to follow me.

I walked slowly in to Edward's room and took in the feeling of comfort that it gave me. I wanted to be there forever. My eyes landed on the bed and I ran up to it like it was a friend that I hadn't seen for months. I lay on top of it and curled up in to the warmth. I was hungry and thirsty and mind was hazy but I didn't care because it all fell away when I drifted in to the land of not-coping...


End file.
